Size of crowd would probably mean a fight in Ceasar Palace's car park, of which there were many. Publicity; well Hagler/Hearns was huge in Britain, so I guess it must of been in the States. Worldwide TV Audience: Hagler/Leonard has to be near the top. Social importance: Foreman/Moorer had a huge emotional attachment to some in society.
Big in the USA, but not on the scale of a Hagler/Leonard; Hagler/Hearns or Tyson/HolyfieldII worldwide
The UK so far as I remeber didn't care too much about the Hagler fights. The Tyson one was mainly big for the ear biting.
-Over thirty thousand attended Cooney-Holmes. -It made the front pages not just the sports page. Cooney made the covers of Sports Illustrated as well as Time Magazine. -Socially it was portrayed as a black champion versus the great white hope.
Hagler/Hearns and Hagler/Leonard were mainstream in Britain; Hagler/Leonard was given a delayed prime time slot. Tyson was big from Berbick onwards.
Tyson/Holyfield was the biggest fight of the 90s, no question. That fight was massive going in. Hagler/Leonard or Holmes/Cooney were also MASSIVE events in the 1980s. Really impossible to say which was the biggest, given the fact that money is not really an indicator because of inflation and the difference between closed circuit and PPV revenue. In terms of money, DLH/Mayweather was the biggest, but in terms of press coverage of world wide appeal, it isn't in the same category as those other fights.
Sugar Ray Leonard vs Marvin Hagler Caesears Palace, LV, 1987. In AC, Mike Tyson vs Michael Spinks, Trump Plaza, 1988. In NYC, Muhammad Ali vs Ken Norton, Yankee Stadium, 1976.
-Over thirty two thousand attended Cooney-Holmes. -It made the front pages not just the sports page and the network evening news reports. The Today show was live from Las Vegas. -Socially it was bigger than anything since Ali-Frazier. It was portrayed as a black champion versus the great white hope.
